A middle aged man and a young female teen are slowly approaching the patient, both are speechless with what they're seeing.
"Are you related to the patient?"
The teen just nodded as the man was slowly looking at the patient
"Do-Doctor… What happened to my wife?"
The middle aged man asked not batting an eye on Rohanne; he was still looking at his wife who was lying down on the bed.
She let out a heavy sigh, this is the part she hates the most. Confronting the patient's family. Even how many times she does this, she just can't get used to it.
"She… has a congestive heart failure because of her diabetes. And her blood vessels in her heart are already congested."
The man closed his eyes trying not to breakdown.
"How long has she been ill?"
The man asked Rohanne, the latter just looked at the man and it looks like he doesn't really have any clue that his wife was that ill.
"That's what I wanted to ask you sir."
"I'm not aware of those things because I'm always at work and I don't get to see her often…"
The man started crying loud as he held his wife's hands. Their daughter was just watching them as her father cries.
"I'm so sorry honey, I should've stayed at home…"
Rohanne decided to leave them be. She was about to go and attend to the other patients when Minkyung suddenly called her.
"Dr. Baek. I'm sorry to interrupt, your phone was ringing nonstop, it's already the third time this time." Minkyung said as he hand the phone to Rohanne.
"Thanks"
She furrowed her brows as soon as she saw that the number was unregistered, still she answered the call.
"hello?"
"Where are you? I'm waiting"
She raised a brow as soon as she heard what the person on the other line said. The deep voice sounds so familiar but she can't quite put her finger on it.
"Who is this?"
"You didn't receive my e-mail?"
"I don't check mails…"
"Jeez, you're still lazy as ever" Her ears twitch as she heard the word lazy
'Who the hell is this?'
"And I thought I could have a mini reunion with you"
"Who are you and how did you get my number?"
"I asked your dear friend Vee in Canada…"
Rohanne still don't know who the person is on the other line but sure enough the guy knows her. He knows Venus after all.
"Who is this?"
"You don't really remember the voice of your partner in crime back in Canada?"
Rohanne's eyes turned saucers as she remembered the person
"Oh shit! Eunji?"
"Finally! I thought you forgot about me!" The man said, chuckling on the other line
"Well you're quite forgettable" She said teasingly with a light laugh.
"Wow! Just wow! After all we've been through? You're making me sad Ro" He said faking a sad voice
"I was just kidding. Anyway how are you?"
"Let's save the greetings for later. Come meet me here in Grand Hyatt Incheon. We have a lot of catching up to do! And also I'd like you to meet someone!"
"My shift will be over in an hour, you sure you're willing to wait?"
"Yes ma'am! After all I haven't seen your grumpy face in a while. I'll be waiting for you Ro!"
After that conversation, Rohanne did her last round and then left some instructions to the interns before ending her shift. She drove to the hotel as fast as she can, and as soon as she arrived, she went straight to the hotel's bar. She immediately saw Eunji taking a sip from his drink. The latter abruptly placed his drink down and walked towards Rohanne.
"Ro! Still looking grumpy as ever!" He joked as he give her a quick embrace.
"And you still look like a playboy" Rohanne retorted, and chuckled.
They looked at each other for a quick second and then burst out laughing.
"It's really nice to see you again Ro, my partner in crime" He said as he guide Rohanne to his table
"Same here Kwon" Rohanne said as she took the seat across Eunji
"Why do you still call me by my surname? Get over it Ro!"
"It's already a habit"
"My name just has two syllables. Is it that hard to pronounce?" Eunji said looking at Rohanne with a raised brow and a pout.
"Your surname has one" Rohanne said and gave Eunji a smirk
"Aish. Whatever"
Rohanne just chuckled and ordered a drink.
"By the way you told me that you'll introduce me to someone?"
"Yeah, She's taking a quick stroll outside, she'll be back anytime now, I already texted her"
"Ohhhh it's a her! Is the master playboy already having someone in his heart? Should I celebrate? Oh I'll send my condolences to her early on." Rohanne teased. They both just laughed
"Yeah you really should celebrate! We are actually celebrating that's why I called you" Eunji said as he smiled from ear to ear.
Eunji's smile faded as he was looking behind Rohanne, The man was now starstrucked, he clearly adores the person he was looking at.
"She's already here"
Eunji stood up and Rohanne followed suit. He walked over to the person behind Rohanne and spoke.
"Ro, I'd like you to meet my fiancé"
As soon as Rohanne turned around, her heart was crushed again into a million pieces. She did not expect to see her.
She was standing in front of Rohanne, her eyes wide open. They both can't utter a word, totally surprised for seeing each other in that moment. They were frozen in their tracks.
"Seju…"
Her name, that was the only thing Rohanne could utter. What was she supposed to feel? The woman she loved the most is soon to be married with one of her closest friends.
'Is history repeating itself?'
She asked herself.
The feeling she felt the day Seungjae asked Seju out was creeping back in her body. That disgusting feeling was coming back
Is she just a mere spectator in Seju's life? Is she just bound to love the person at a distance? Is she just bound to love her in secrecy?
Just when she thought that they might have a chance again, reality came to slap her for the nth time. The truth snapping her out of her little fairy tale, and bringing her back to reality.
Seju and her are never meant to be together.
"Déjà vu" she mumbled inaudibly and chuckled lightly.
"you guys know each other?"
Eunji asked
Rohanne stopped herself from having an emotional breakdown and composed herself. She then gave the man a smile, a fake smile that hides all the bitterness she felt, the same fake smile she gave Seungjae when he asked Seju out.
"Yeah, we do. We work at the same hospital"
The man looked at the two women with confusion in his face. Confused at the heavy atmosphere between his fiancé and friend.
"Well I didn't expect that. Guess we'll be working together" Eunji said to Rohanne as he gave her a smile, a very suspicious one.
Rohanne shifted her eyes to Eunji who looks like he has a lot of stories to tell and he couldn't wait to blabber about it.
"Guess I'll be resigning" Rohanne joked and took a glance at Seju, who looked at her with furrowed brows
"How dare you!" Eunji glared at her and Rohanne just laughed "Anyway enough about work, I don't want to think about it for now. Let's just take our seats" Eunji said as he guide Seju on to sit down and sat back down on his chair.
"I'm sorry Kwon but I can't stay long" Rohanne said as she looked at the couple
"What why? I thought your shift was finished?" Eunji disappointedly asked
"Yeah I thought so too, but It's Friday today and I have a 12 hour shift on Fridays"
"Ugh chief is at it again?"
"And I still have to fix something…"
Seju looked at Rohanne who was smiling apologetically at the man beside her. Then she noticed that the latter shot her a quick glance.
"And also I have a patient to watch…"
If you ask Rohanne, she would say that she already mastered the art of lying, and masking her emotions. She's been doing it since she was in middle school, and she wasn't even caught at least once. Or maybe they just don't care.
"How about our dinner? I haven't seen you in ages and you'll just ditch me like this? I still have many things to tell you"
"I'm really sorry. Next time, I promise."
She smiled apologetically, hiding, concealing all the pain that was about to blow inside her.
Seju was just bowing her head down, like a criminal who was caught in the act. Rohanne can't help but smile bitterly with all the irony unfolding in front of her.
"Okay then, I guess I'll see you on Monday"
Rohanne smiled again and immediately exited the bar without taking a last glance on Seju. She can't help but reminisce the days, it felt like she was in middle school all over again. Those days when she still have to hide her feelings from Seju so that they can maintain their friendship.
She slowly walked towards the parking lot with depressing thoughts in her mind. She feels like she wanted to cry but not even a single tear escaped from her eyes. She just stood beside her car as she laughed sarcastically. She had cried so much for one person that she can't even shed tears anymore.
'Wow… I can't even cry…'
She just stood there her forehead on her car's roof. She doesn't know what to do. She needs a breath of fresh air. She needs to go somewhere far from the two.
She abruptly stepped in her car and drove, where? She doesn't know. She doesn't have any destination in mind she just kept driving.
She was starting to space out when a figure caught her eye. She immediately stepped on the brakes when she saw the figure cross the street. She stepped out of her car and ran to see what happened. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that the person was unharmed, the teen was sitting in the concrete floor.
"Are you okay?"
She asked as she slowly approached the kid.
"Hey… Are you okay?"
He was not responding.
"Why did you stop?!"
Rohanne was baffled when the guy yelled at her. He grabbed Rohanne by the collar and shouted right at her face, totally furious about everything.
"Can you please calm down."
She held the teen's hand to indicate to release her collar but the guy just tightened his grip
"Why didn't you just kill me?!"
The teen's eyes were getting a bit glassy as he looked straight into Rohanne's eyes. Even though she was a bit confused on what's happening she can't help but notice how much pain is in the boy's eyes. Just by staring in his eyes, she can't help but think that the boy in front of her was just… like her… Even if she doesn't know what's happening with the person in front of her what she knows is that he's tired… Like her… Tired of all the chaos around her… And she knows that all he wants is rest.
"Calm down…" She said in a serious tone and swatted the guy's hand from her. She held the boy by the wrist and dragged him to the side walk.
Just by holding the boy's wrist Rohanne can feel the scars, scars from cuts. She felt pity for the boy.
"look, whatever that is you're dealing with— Hey wait!" She was cut off when the boy suddenly ran away from her… She was planning to chase him but just let him go…
'He needs time…'
She then went back to her car and drove away. The thing that was lingering from her head was now gone and the thing bothering her right now was the kid she almost killed.
She let out a heavy sigh as she drove her car to a place she know that she could ease the pain, even just for a while.
===
"Ju— Damn it…" Sejeong was yelling in front of the TV when she heard her phone ring. She looked at the caller ID and when she saw who was calling she just muted it.
"No. Not today Satan…"
She continued watching the drama but her phone kept buzzing and buzzing like it was a bee.
"Damn it… Why do you love to pester me so much…"
She let out a sigh and decided to just peek at her phone; she was shocked to see at least 20 messages just from the same person.
"Persistent" she said and clicked her tongue
She was checking every single message when suddenly the name of that person flashed on her screen again.
"Damn it…"
She just stared at the name on her phone's screen and after a bit of contemplating she finally answered it, but she wasn't speaking, the only sound that the person on the other line can hear was the sound from the television.
"I need you…"
She felt a tug on her heart as soon as she heard that… She let out a bitter smile
'She just needs me when she's hurt… How selfish…'
"I'm outside your unit…"
As soon as she heard that she abruptly stood up and went to the door and checked if she was really there and saw that she really was.
Rohanne was leaning her head on the door while she was holding the phone on her right hand. They both kept silent but the call was still on going. Sejeong was contemplating whether she would let the woman in or just let her get tired or just tell her to leave.
She eyed every movement Rohanne was doing, hoping that she'll leave. But the latter was still holding on to her spot, she doesn't have any plans of leaving.
Sejeong let out a sigh then ended the call. She turned off the Television and quickly grabbed a hoodie and her wallet. She then opened the door and greeted Rohanne.
The latter just looked at her with eyes that looked like they were tired.
"Sejeong…"
"Let's go…" She said as she led the way
"W-Where are we going?" Rohanne asked confused on where Sejeong was going
"Somewhere…" The latter said not batting an eye on Rohanne.
When they were in the parking lot she asked for the car keys from Rohanne, even though confused the latter gave it to Sejeong.
While they were driving they were just silent. Not even a single word was uttered. Sejeong was just focusing on her driving and Rohanne was just looking outside trying to figure out where they're going.
Suddenly they stopped in front of an empty playground near Han River. Sejeong got out of the car but Rohanne was still confused as to why they were there. She then slowly got out of the car and felt the cold breeze of the wind.
Sejeong suddenly threw her, her car keys.
"It felt good to drive a Maserati…" The latter mentioned as she slowly walked towards the swing.
"Finally you spoke. I thought we would just stay silent and do nothing." Rohanne said as she sat on one of the swings, beside Sejeong.
"If you don't want to talk, we can do that" Sejeong joked, the blonde woman beside her just looked at her with a pout "You're not cute"
"I thought it would work"
"So what happened?"
"I almost killed a person…" Rohanne said nonchalantly as she weakly push her swing.
Sejeong's eyes widened, she abruptly stood from the swing and held Rohanne by the shoulders and shook the latter.
"You did what?! I know you're hurt, but don't kill you idiot! I won't bail you out!" Sejeong yelled
"It was an accident! An accident!" She said as she tried to stop Sejeong from shaking her. The latter stopped and looked at her with suspicion.
"Are you sure you did not intend to do it?"
"Yeah! The boy just jumped out of nowhere! Good thing I was able to step on the breaks." Rohanne explained, Sejeong was still giving her the suspicious look but she believes what the woman said.
"And then?"
"When I was about to check on him he just grabbed my collar and yelled at me, telling me why did I stop…"
Sejeong just listened to Rohanne.
"The look on his eyes… were the same as mine... They look tired…"
Sejeong just kept listening to Rohanne looking at the latter.
"I'm so tired Sejeong…" Rohanne said as she stared at the River "I'm so tired of everything… I'm starting to think that maybe the things I have right now are compensation, because God can't give the only thing I want…"
She just let out a sarcastic laugh and smiled bitterly
"I can't even cry… Not even one shed of tear…" She held her face with her two hands as she laughed maniacally. "Have I cried so much for the past years?"
Sejeong just looked at Rohanne with pity in her eyes.
'If I could ease all your pain I would… But unfortunately I can't. Because I'm not her…'
"History kept repeating itself and I don't like it. I keep getting dumped when I didn't even confess in the first place… Am I bound to just like them in a distance? Am I just always the third wheel? Do I just watch as the person I like get her happily ever after?"
"Fairy Tales aren't real…" Sejeong suddenly said out of the blue, Rohanne just laughed at the statement.
"Yeah, Yeah… Fairy Tales aren't real… And I'm not someone's Princess Charming. Rather I'm just a spectator. A movie enthusiast, who keeps watching love stories, love stories that hurt me."
"Love stories are great movies. But sometimes it's hard to watch, especially if you're watching the love story of someone you like…"
"When I saw her today, with him… My mind just went blank. The image of her and him… They were like the perfect pair…"
"I know… Looking at someone you like with another person, they look perfect and all so you begin to think that maybe the reason why they're not dating me is because she already looks perfect with someone…"
" Yeah, It's like… You thought you two had a chance, but then reality just slaps you with the truth…"
"First time?"
They just looked at each other and chuckled. At some point the pain inside Rohanne's chest was eased, she vented her heart out to Sejeong. She felt refreshed.
"You know you're like a tropical fruit juice" Rohanne suddenly blurted out while looking at Sejeong
"I'm a what now?" Sejeong asked with a raised brow
"A tropical fruit juice…"
"Why?"
"You're refreshing… It's like you're my rest from all the drama in my life" Rohanne said while happily smiling at Sejeong
It's like the world stopped when Sejeong looked at Rohanne, her heartstrings got tugged with just those words and the sight of Rohanne smiling at her, it just makes her heart melt…
'damn it, don't smile at me like that…'
"You know that you have to buy Tropical Fruit Juices right?"
Rohanne just looked at Sejeong with a confused face
"You still owe me lunch from before… and now you owe me a drink…" Sejeong nonchalantly said
Rohanne on the other hand realized something
"Oh shit! I totally forgot! I was supposed to treat you to lunch yesterday!"
"Not breaking any promises eh? Seems like someone's a liar" Sejeong jokingly said that made the woman beside her flustered
"No this time for real I'll treat you to lunch tomorrow and I'll buy you any drink you want!" Rohanne said with determination, she even set an alarm on her phone so that she won't forget it.
"Okay, but since you bailed on me last time, you'll treat me to lunch twice to compensate for it" Sejeong jokingly said but Rohanne agreed to it without even a single ounce of hesitation
"Sure!"
The two walked to the nearest Convenience store to buy some snacks and drinks and talked about stuff all night.
===
After dropping Sejeong off of her apartment Rohanne went straight home. She felt refreshed talking to Sejeong, venting out her feelings and she's glad that the latter wasn't prying too much and was just there listening to her rants.
But as soon as she entered her empty unit, sadness and pain engulfed her again. She went straight to her room and laid there just staring at the ceiling.
She wanted to cry… but she can't…
She woke up having trouble opening her eyes. Her head was feeling heavy and as well as her body. She got up from her bed and shoved tasteless cereal in her mouth just to have something in her stomach, and then dressed herself to work.
She was about to step out of her car when she saw another car park beside hers. The driver's seat opened and Eunji stepped out from it, wearing his smile as always. He walked around the car and escorted out the person in the passenger's seat, Seju.
Watching the two of them, Rohanne felt a familiar pang in her chest. The pain she felt was the same when she was watching Seju and Seungjae together.
Seeing how Seju sweetly smiled at Eunji's gesture, Rohanne realized that from then, up until now, she didn't have a space in Seju's heart. Not even a little bit.
'Friends'
That's how Seju see her
Realizing that right now hurt Rohanne so much. She can't help but hate herself…
'Maybe if I was a man��'
Questions started to run in her mind
'Is it time to let her go?'
Is it time to let go of all the feelings she had and accept the fact that she and Seju can never be together? Will she be able to forget all the memories she and Seju shared? And if she did that will she be able to take the pain?
'Will I be able to Unlove her?'
Firmly gripping on the steering wheel she came to a decision. A decision that she already made before.
===
January 22, 2009
A day before Yeonhwa's birthday. Seungjae should be happy because it would be his best friend's birthday the next day, but… Instead of celebrating it He's here inside the gym of their school arguing with the said birthday celebrant.
"Fuck You! Coward!" Seungjae yelled
"Jae, whatever I'm feeling for Seju, it doesn't matter anymore. I just want you to promise that you'll cherish her and love her" Yeonhwa said looking at Seungjae's eyes
Seungjae just looked at her with disappointment in his eyes.
"Don't do this Yeon… You don't have to…"
"It's not the only reason Jae, and you know that…"
"Then tell her! I thought you love her?! Is it because the prejudice? Is it because the peering eyes?!"
Yeonhwa remained silent while her best friend yelled at her face. It was true, she was a coward, she's afraid, that the people around them wouldn't accept, but that's not the only reason…
"You fucking coward! Don't tell me you love her when you can't even stand up for her!" Seungjae said as he grab Yeonhwa's collar. The latter just looked at her with pain in her eyes
"I love her!" She said as she swatted Seungjae's hands away from her. "But that's all there is to it… because… she loves you… I already accepted it… And I can't handle it Jae… I can't handle seeing her being happy with you…"
Seungjae looked straight at Yeonhwa before bowing his head and covering his face with his two hands as if he was guilty
"And what's the point of fighting for love that isn't mine to begin with?"
And with that Yeonhwa slowly walked away. Seungjae was left in the gym frozen in his position.
===
'Reality'
That's what in front of her right now, all her feelings for Seju was all just a mere fantasy, a fairy tale. It will always remain in front of the camera, where she can be the lead and Seju was her lover. It will just remain as a mere concept.
"This time… I'm really letting you go, no more bullshit…"